Why are US coins so blah -- Interview with CCAC member

I'm going to have to go with what Lehigh said earlier, coins would look much better if they would use a higher relief.

 

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We'd be much better off with a Batman commem.

 

Minted in Denver, Colorado maybe? That would sure be a big hit these days ...

As for high relief coins, yes, that would be a good idea for commemorative issues. With "mass pieces" produced for general circulation that may be more difficult. But coins that are produced solely for collectors, and cost much more than face anyway, may well have some more depth.

Nothing wrong with having a logo of the commemorated occasion/organization on a coin. But in my opinion it should not be the dominant (or even sole) graphic element of the design.

Christian

 

I totally agree; nothing wrong with having an organization's logo on a coin—but trying to have it command an entire side is bad thinking. Logos are flat by nature; they are meant to work on letterhead, sides of trucks and cookie packaging. I'm not big on the GS logo but put any other successful logo on a coin and it's going to be lifeless as well.

There's another problem with this design that I'd like to argue—and it's a problem that seems to afflict a lot of modern coinage. The rendering of the three women is obviously meant to suggest the different stages of life: the cheerfulness of youth, the adventure of adolescence and the growing wisdom of adulthood. While this idea (whatever you might think of it) might work fine as a pencil illustration, it's a horrible idea for low-relief sculpture, or any sculpture for that matter. First are the technical limitations of reproducing a two-dimensional portrait as low-relief sculpture (and the Sac dollar is one of the few obverses IMO which gets it right—barely). But more of an issue in this case is the fact that that each of these women's expressions represents, literally, a snapshot in time. They are photography-based expressions—which we know because, frankly, a little girl can't smile naturally for the 5 hours it takes to draw her likeness.

Compare this "snapshot," "aren't I having fun on my summer vacation" quality with the quiet stature of Lincoln's portrait on the cent or Liberty on the Peace dollar. The latter are expressionless for a reason: to connote timelessness. The figure, whether Liberty or Lincoln, is not reduced to a superficial "moment" but rather allowed to become symbolic of other things.

 

If you like the Girl scouts your gonna LOVE the Rotary Club next year.

 

According to an article Coin World article by Michele Orzano (Vol 53, Issue 2733, 27Aug2012, Page 4), the 2014 Baseball Hall of Fame coins will emulate the concave shape of the 2009 French "International Year of Astronomy" commemorative coins.



Now THAT's and interesting looking coin!! :hail: I guess it's supposed to give the impression of a Pitcher's Mound.

2014 BHOF Max Mintages...

Gold $5 Half Eagles: 500,000
Silver Dollars: 400,000
Clad Half Dollars: 750,000

 

Don't depress me.

 

Its gonna happen

 

For the most part, the "Art" of design in coins went away with the Early Commemorative series of coins. The Frasers, et. al.

 

No the design on the convex side is supposed to be a baseball and thecurved form is to make it LOOK more like a baseball. That is right in the authorizing legislation.

 

Where the best artistic ideas are hatched...